Stolen Scoot

August 27, 2006 6:49 AM

My scooter was stolen. Filed insurance, called police. Is there anything else I should do?

In the middle of the night someone lifted my scoot out of my driveway. I had the steering column and the kick-stand locked. I posted it on Scoot.net's stolen scoot registry.

I'm lucky in that I've never really been robbed of something of this level before. I'm rather sad about it.

I was wondering if there was anywhere I should look for it to maybe turn up. Please don't tell me about how you think its getting trashed somewhere - I've already figured that, and that's not helping my broken heart. I'm well aware that I'll probably never see it again. I'm looking for ways people might have recovered stolen scoots / motorcycles.

Thanks in advance for your considerate answer.

posted by dog food sugar to Travel & Transportation (13 answers total)

In all honesty, your stolen scooter will probably low on the totem pole for pursuing cases. Do pawn shops carry scooters? Then again, I'm pretty sure anymore, pawn shops have to jump through a lot of hoops policewise, so this advice may be pointless.

Your best course of action is to get a new scooter and don't be quite so attached next time. It's just property. All property decays, breaks, or loses value, whether that be monetary, or personal.
posted by cellphone at 7:18 AM on August 27, 2006

Best answer: 1. Sorry man, it sucks.
2. I'm not sure about the procedure, but I assume you'll want to get the engine/frame serial numbers entered into the national stolen database?
posted by gadha at 7:40 AM on August 27, 2006

Best answer: If there's a craiglist on your town, make a post there in the motorcycles section (breaks the guidelines, but I'm sure m/c and scooter lovers will understand)--include photos if you can.
posted by dobbs at 7:49 AM on August 27, 2006

yeah what dobbs said, post photos of it in areas that scooter lovers will see it. especially if its a custom scooter.. scooter lovers pay attention to every scooter they see.

good luck getting it back, my husband and i would be heartbroken to see any of our scooters disappear.
posted by trishthedish at 8:12 AM on August 27, 2006

Best answer: Also notify all scooter and motorcycle shop service departments. They may find some dumbass asking for a key or a lockset.

If it was lifted into a truck it is probably local. I say this only because there aren't nationwide bands of scooter thieves roaming neighborhoods looking for scooters.
posted by Gungho at 8:13 AM on August 27, 2006

Best answer: Oh, that sucks. I am sorry to hear about the theft. My 1969 Vespa was almost stolen a few years ago (they got throught he cable, but did not take it) and since, I have invested in heavy chain locks by onguard. The problem with the old scooters is that the column locks are simple to drill out and if your model needs a key, the wiring is so simple, that a screwdriver will do the job.

You should make signs (with a picture of the scoot) and post them all over your neighborhood (and further). I have had a few friends recover their scooters this way. It might help to offer a reward.

There are also a number of other places to post besides scoot.net, such as the scooterbbs and a local yahoo scooter group. Where do you live? Are their any scooter clubs in the area?
posted by toddst at 10:59 AM on August 27, 2006

Best answer: What kind of scoot was it? I know that the older, pre-mix scooters sometimes turn up a few weeks after being stolen...abandoned by the roadside or somwhere else after the bandit either siezes the engine due to not pre-mixing or pops a cable.

Here in the northern Texas area, I know the 80's scoots get stolen a *lot* more. I parked my '64 Vespa on the street without incident for two years with nothing but the column lock.
posted by kaseijin at 7:31 PM on August 27, 2006

^somewhere
posted by kaseijin at 7:31 PM on August 27, 2006

Response by poster: Hi everyone - thanks so much for the ideas. It was a '03 Honda Metropolitan that I used daily for work, school, errands, everything. It was a discontinued color, but not a unique scooter by any means. The locking mechanisms on it usually just frustrate thieves who eventually dump them, trashed, after they've been unable to get them to start (from what I've heard from other met owners).

The weird thing is I drove around the neighborhood and saw a lovely old lammy, an old Honda passport, and a geely all unchained in people's driveways within blocks of mine. I'll make an effort to let my neighbors know of my theft.

The nice thing I guess is that the scoot paid for itself in gas savings over the past 3 years. It was insured and I think we'll apply whatever we may get toward a project vespa we have, a more theft proof parking situation for that bike, and maybe a nice bicycle for me. We'll see.

Thanks again, I'm going to be doing many of your suggestions.
posted by dog food sugar at 8:29 PM on August 27, 2006

My scooter was stolen once, and the police called me a few days later, saying it thad been found behind some bushes across the street from where I had parked it--the crooks couldn't get very far with it without a key. Neighbors who were annoyed at its presence in their bushes called the cops.

Hope something equally fortuitous goes down for you.
posted by Riverine at 7:53 AM on August 28, 2006

Happened to me more than once. Usually heard from the police in a few days when they found it in empty lots or whatever. I replaced more than a few rear tires :)
posted by jdfan at 2:11 PM on August 28, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks again everyone.

Another metafilter member emailed me the Stolen Motorcycle Registry that he runs. I thought it should be included as a resource in the thread for any future searches. Thanks Bryan!
posted by dog food sugar at 6:22 PM on August 28, 2006

Response by poster: Ugh!

Correct link: Stolen Motorcycle Registry
posted by dog food sugar at 6:24 PM on August 28, 2006